I received these photos last week and I didn’t have much advice…maybe someone else does.  These are classroom doors in a school for autistic children, and the extra locksets are due to the special needs of the students.  The students are unable to retract both latches at the same time (if they can even reach the upper lockset).  While this keeps the children in the classroom (a good thing), it also prevents egress (a bad thing).

Most locks which prevent egress would not be acceptable without a variance, with the exception of delayed egress locks which aren’t appropriate in this case and aren’t allowed by the IBC for educational occupancies.  Keeping in mind that the local code official would have to approve any proposed solution, what type of hardware would meet the needs of the school while providing for life safety in an emergency?

These photos were submitted by Eyal Bedrik of Entry Systems Ltd.

And while we’re on the topic of school hardware, these photos are (sadly) from two schools that my kids attend:

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